Sunday, June 26, 2005
By JOHN BRANTON, Columbian staff writer

Ed Vidinghoff of Ridgefield learned he'd been victimized when a credit clearinghouse notified him that someone had been using his Visa card at a gambling casino in Argentina.

Aleksandr Zagonenko found out when he received bills totaling more than $2,000 from Clark Public Utilities and Qwest Communications International. Two people who had rented his house apparently set up phony accounts in his name, according to a Vancouver Police Department report.

In Susan Rae Underhill's case, the moment of clarity came when she tried to cash a money order that a man she met on the Internet sent her. Take $400 for yourself, the man had said, and send the rest to "George Martins" in Lagos, Nigeria.

Underhill was still in the Cash & Go shop in Salmon Creek when an employee found out the money order was bogus and notified police. Underhill ended up explaining herself to a Clark County Sheriff's Office deputy. Luckily for Underhill, a 33-year-old Vancouver-area resident, the deputy found no evidence she was a knowing participant in the scheme.

Scams, some childishly simple and others complicated brain busters, are permeating the lives of Americans, including Clark County residents.

Identity theft may be the most prevalent. In a forum earlier this month, organized by state Rep. Deb Wallace, D-Vancouver, a Washington State Patrol detective told the audience that such cases nationwide have exploded from about 10,000 in 1995 to 9.3 million last year.

Identity theft is the No. 1 complaint by consumers nationwide, said Dave Startup, one of two WSP detectives working with the Department of Licensing in a statewide identity theft unit.

The crime cost Americans and businesses an estimated $52 billion last year, officials say. This area has more than its share.

Washington ranks eighth in the nation for its rate of identity theft: 91.1 victims per 100,000 residents, according to the Federal Trade Commission.

Within Washington, Vancouver is second only to Seattle for the number of victims, with more than Tacoma, Spokane or Bellevue, the FTC says.

In Clark County these days, identity theft pitches are everywhere.

In recent weeks, Vancouver residents have received e-mail messages from "Nigerian scam" perpetrators posing as the wife of an assassinated high official of Sudan and the operations director of a Hong Kong bank.

Both times the people claimed to have money they needed to smuggle out of their country with the help of the Vancouver residents. In reality, officials say, the senders are seeking money, account numbers and other personal information.

Since identity thieves make purchases on their victims' credit cards and take out loans, set up phone or utility accounts or obtain cash in their victims' names they create havoc with their victims' finances.

On average, it costs victims $1,500 and 36 hours of work to repair credit ratings, Startup said. Two Vancouver men recently were taken for about $9,000 by a scam that came over the Internet, said Vancouver police Detective Ed Hewitt, who works in the White Collar Crimes section of the department's Major Crimes Unit.

Loathsome lineup

Identity theft is only part about 39 percent, according to the FTC of the overall fraud problem.

Clark County residents and police detectives in recent years have struggled with a loathsome lineup of frauds that at times seems to boggle the mind. There are sweepstakes scams, investment scams, marriage scams, travel visa scams, government grant scams, credit repair scams, home repair scams, work-at-home scams, firewood scams and more.

In Clark County, thieves recently knocked on local residents' doors, claiming to work for the water department, and stole their belongings. Local dentists, and even hairdressers, have been ripped off by scam artists who obtained services and skipped without paying.

The Vancouver Police Department could double the five detectives it has working on property crimes, including scams and burglaries, and still have trouble keeping up with the increase in such crimes, said Hewitt, a fraud investigator for the past 6 1/2 years.

He said complex fraud cases can take up to a year of a detective's time, on and off, as the investigator works several at a time. One of Hewitt's cases fills five 4-inch-thick binders.

"It can be very overwhelming," Hewitt said. "These are the type of cases you take home at night and wake up thinking about. It's a relief when you get a conviction."

But convicted criminals may not serve much jail time. An identity thief convicted of a first offense for stealing less than $1,500 faces zero to 90 days in jail.

"There is not a significant amount of punishment for the cases," Clark County Deputy Prosecutor Jim David said at the identity theft forum.

Longer sentences can apply when a defendant has multiple convictions and when a case is handled in federal courts.

Wariness pays

One solution to the fraud problem is for the public to learn about scam pitches and turn them away.

Consider the case of 91-year-old Alfred Mendenhall, a retired Lutheran minister and McLoughlin Heights resident who, in April, received a phone call from a man who claimed Mendenhall had just won $250,000 in a sweepstakes.

"Oh, so this is one of those scams," Mendenhall told the man.

Protesting that he was on the up-and-up, the caller offered to send a "courier" to escort Mendenhall to his bank so Mendenhall could withdraw $2,800. The $2,800 was needed so Mendenhall could collect the larger prize, the man said.

When Mendenhall said that wasn't likely to happen, a second man called and gave his name as Robert Frost.

"Oh, so you're the poet who's been dead for years," Mendenhall said, teasing the man.

The jokes continued until "Frost" hung up, said Mendenhall's daughter, Rogene Bork.

Although it's often said that scam artists like to prey on elderly victims, the FTC says only 10 percent of the identity theft victims in Washington last year were 60 or older.

Indeed, the FTC says, the age groups with the most victims in Washington were 18-29 (26 percent); 30 to 39 (25 percent); and 40 to 49 (22 percent).

Identity theft victims are young and old, rich and poor. Even the dead aren't spared by scam artists who figure out it's easy to obtain a death certificate in someone else's name, Startup said.

And, though some scams are sophisticated, they more typically begin with simple mail theft or "Dumpster diving," going through victims' mailboxes or garbage to find such things as credit card statements and blank checks, Startup said.

Local residents should shred unwanted records and avoid leaving mail in home boxes. Locked home or community boxes aren't invulnerable but are better than unlocked boxes.

Outgoing mail can be left safely in locked blue street collection boxes, which are only rarely broken into, said U.S. Postal Inspector-supervisor Dennis Fernald. Even leaving outgoing mail in the collection area at one's workplace would be better than leaving it in an unlocked home box, he said.

Another tip from Fernald: When you have checks printed, have your cell-phone number placed on them so businesses can verify checks that customers offer.

Local thieves have stolen victim's purses or wallets containing personal information in car prowls, burglaries and even from shopping carts.

Scam artists sometimes even bribe employees of businesses that have access to personal information, Startup said.

Startup also warned restaurant customers about "skimmers," simple electronic gizmos that can be purchased on the Internet. With a skimmer, a server can quickly swipe a victim's credit card and record the information contained on its magnetic strip.

It's best to keep an eye on servers after handing them your card.

Criminals have even installed official-looking skimmer devices on bank ATM machines, so that customers skim their own cards for the crook. Thieves also have used cell-phone cameras to take photos of victims' credit cards to capture the name and number, Hewitt said.

And so it goes, as law-abiding citizens take note of prevention tips and try to keep up with the myriad ruses that criminals use a major challenge.

"For each scam there's probably 20 ways they can pull it off," said Vancouver police spokeswoman Kim Kapp.

John Branton covers crime and law enforcement for The Columbian. He can be reached at 360-759-8012 or john.branton@columbian.com.

A Partial Glossary of Scams

Advance-fee scams: A term used for a multitude of frauds in which the victim pays money for something a loan, credit card, sweepstakes prize, found money, a gift or something else and gets little or nothing in return, according to www.fbi.gov and www.ftc.gov.

Buyer's club and unordered publications: A common scam in which victims are billed for memberships or publications they didn't authorize or order, according to www.ftc.gov.

Credit card insurance: Federal law limits consumers' liability in credit card fraud to $50, but scam artists sell victims unneeded credit card insurance, according to www.ftc.gov.

Credit repair fraud: Crooks falsely claim they can remove true but negative information from a victim's credit report or even create a new credit record, according to www.ftc.gov.

Distraction theft: Earlier this year, thieves who had stolen fliers posted by an Oregon water district came to Clark County homes claiming they had been sent to check the water supply. When no one was looking, they pilfered money from homes. Officials say residents should insist on seeing such callers' business photo identification and call the company, using a number from a directory, and verify that the company sent employees on such a mission.

Firewood ripoffs: Vendors offer firewood in Clark County, but disputes sometimes arise with the amount of wood supplied and its quality and dryness. A cord of firewood is 128 cubic feet in a stack that's 8 feet long, 4 feet high and 4 feet wide.

Grant scams: Scam artists have telephoned Clark County residents to inform them they had won thousands of dollars in government grants, in some cases because they paid federal taxes on time. For the lucky recipient to receive the grant, the scamsters said, he or she would need to pay a fee of a few hundred dollars and provide checking account and bank-routing numbers.

Home repair scams: On many occasions in the past several years, unscrupulous people have knocked on Clark County residents' doors and offered services such as roof or pavement repairs. Some residents have been disappointed in the quality of the work. Officials advise hiring reputable companies, not strangers who show up at the door.

Internet auction fraud: Using a legitimate Internet site such as eBay, scam artists offer valuables, take senders' money and deliver little or nothing. This type of fraud is widespread and made up 16 percent of fraud complaints last year, according to the Federal Trade Commission.

In another version, two Clark County residents were taken for $2,300 in 2005 when they offered a 1949 jukebox for sale on eBay. Someone e-mailed them offering to buy it. The "buyer" said she lived overseas and said she would send them a check for $3,500. The Clark County residents were supposed to keep $1,200, their asking price for the jukebox, and wire the remainer to a third party who would handle the shipping. The Clark County residents deposited the check, which appeared valid, in their bank and wired about $2,300 to the "shipper" in Nigeria. Later, when the Clark County residents' bank determined the original check was counterfeit, the local residents were $2,300 poorer since the money they wired to the "shipper" was their own.

Investment scams: Crooks pose as investment counselors, offering quick, no-risk and sometimes nonexistent investments. A Vancouver man, David K. Buchanan, posed as a wealthy former Dallas Cowboys football player and defrauded acquaintances out of more than $5 million. He was sentenced to federal prison earlier this year for wire fraud in such a scheme.

Marriage and travel visa fraud: Two Vancouver residents were indicted recently for allegedly recruiting people to travel to Asia and pose as someone engaged to be married to an Asian. The travelers were paid for their services. Vietnamese citizens were charged $20,000 or more for fraudulently obtained visas allowing them to enter the United States, officials said.

Ponzi schemes: Scam artists promise big returns to investors, and the first "investors" receive the big returns from later "investors." There's just one problem: There's no actual investment, according to mc2consulting.com.

Pyramid schemes: A scam artist "sells bogus distributorships, franchises or business opportunity plans to people who are in turn induced to do the same," according to mc2consulting.com. Eventually, such schemes fall apart and buyers are left with nothing.

Quick-divorce scams: Typically offer divorces obtained in a foreign country for a fee. Their information is misleading or false and the divorces aren't legally valid.

Shop-at-home catalog scams: Simply offer valuable products, take the victim's money and don't deliver. This scam made up 8 percent of fraud complaints to the FTC last year.

Telemarketing fraud: A term for mass telephone calling of victims with spurious offers and demands. Includes boiler-room sweepstakes scams claiming that the victim has won a huge prize and needs to send money to the callers for one bogus reason or another. Other callers seek donations for bogus charities or legitimate charities that only receive a small percentage of money that victims pay. Can involve high-pressure tactics, misleading information, advance-fee ruses and attempts to learn victims' personal information. Officials repeatedly have warned local residents not to send money or give out personal information such as credit card or bank account numbers and Social Security numbers to such callers.

Work-at-home offers: At least one Vancouver resident received an e-mail this month containing an offer to earn money operating an online casino in return for cash up front. Although it's unknown whether this particular e-mail was fraudulent, scams involving bogus work-at-home and business opportunity offers typically fail to deliver what they promise. They made up 2 percent of fraud complaints reported to the FTC last year.